Windows 8 Consumer Preview Is Available For Download

[H.O.D 0]

It's been out for a week now, and has already recorded more than a million downloads. Windows 8, the next version of Microsoft's Windows, is available as a consumer preview, or in other words, as a beta release. It can be downloaded from here free of cost. This is not a new move at all. Windows 7 was released to the public in two different flavours as well; first as a Beta version and then a Release Candidate version. In case of Windows 8, the pre-beta (developer) version itself was made public, and now the Beta version has come out. I'm not sure if there will be an RC version or if the retail version will be out directly.

 

Talking about the Consumer Preview version, it has surely come a long way from the Developer Preview version. The immediate difference is the GUI. The Metro interface has been made smoother and more visually-appealing to the eyes. More importantly, the background colour of the interface can now be changed at will. The DP version had a constant green colour in the background. Also, the setup process has been tweaked a bit, so that towards the end, the user has a whole-new setup screen, which once again, is visually appealing.

 

Other changes include the inclusion of the Microsoft Store, where Metro apps can be downloaded. At the moment all the apps in this store are free of cost. The pre-loaded apps have also changed, with Pinball and Solitaire being the sole games (the DP version had more pre-loaded games), and social apps taking up much of the screen.

 

Another change is the floating bar on the right of the Desktop which appears when the mouse cursor is taken to the right edge of the screen. The bar contains options to share the content on the screen, the "start" button (which takes the user back to the Metro screen) and an options button.

 

In Windows explorer, the ribbon interface has been modified as well. The interface in the Developer version looked quite ugly, and it has been tweaked in this version.

 

So far the performance of the new OS is decent, and the Metro apps are interesting to play with. The whole OS gives a loud statement that it is meant for touch-enabled devices, but it installed well enough on my 2-year old netbook. It looks like Microsoft has another bestseller on its hands, although not everyone will look kindly upon the forced change to the Metro interface, and especially upon the removal of the start button!

[mahesh2k 0]

The very idea of building same interface for both desktop and mobile as same is making me feel nervous. This is happening in almost every OS be it mac, linux or windows. I don't understand what these guys have even thinking about the problem. Using icons and spalsh boxes instead of simple menus, just for the sake of using screen real estate is useless. I know developers and wanna-be programmers disagree with that and hence the results.I also think that using same display on both is not a good thing at all. It just makes things different. I dont want android as my os on desktop. I don't want crappy cellphone display as desktop. I want my own wallpaper and ability to use icons on desktop. Seriously tiles are boring and useless. Just because they look good on phone doesnt mean they look good on desktop.Some of the developers are doing the designs for the sake of it and literally making crap rounds of designs. Look at elementary OS and their new crappy design. As per their new interface, there will be no desktop icons and no minimize button. I can only imagine where they'll go with too much over simplification and frugal thinking.I don't understand where this crappy design techniques are leading us these days. I don't like HUD on ubuntu, Tiles on windows and can't afford mac for everyday use. I just don't know why we don't have a choice after paying enough money on these devices and OSs. It looks like i am on my way to use XFCE or similar type of display managers.

[H.O.D 0]

The very idea of building same interface for both desktop and mobile as same is making me feel nervous. This is happening in almost every OS be it mac, linux or windows. I don't understand what these guys have even thinking about the problem. Using icons and spalsh boxes instead of simple menus, just for the sake of using screen real estate is useless. I know developers and wanna-be programmers disagree with that and hence the results.

The problem is that there is all this hype about the Post-PC revolution. Just because the iPhone and the iPad sold millions of units, the tech giants are assuming that the PC is no longer relevant. Actually, Apple started this thought and eventually everyone else started believing this as well. But the truth is that except in the US and perhaps the UK, no one is using these smart devices. There's no iPad being flashed in developing countries which make up most of the world's population! For less than half the price of an entry-level iPad, I could buy a fairly powerful PC with decent memory, running Ubuntu! For most of the world, the PC is still the easiest and pocket-friendly way of accessing the internet. The "mobile revolution" or the "post-pc revolution" that is being talked about is true, but it hasn't spread outside the US. So in a way, the changes in Windows, Ubuntu and even Mac OS X are being ushered in a bit too early. Windows 8 is a huge risk for Microsoft because the bulk of their revenue comes from licensing Windows to laptop manufacturers. If Windows 8 is optimised for tablets, then who's going to buy those laptops? Windows 7 would become the new XP, and people would say, We're happy with the old Windows!

 

 

 

I also think that using same display on both is not a good thing at all. It just makes things different. I dont want android as my os on desktop. I don't want crappy cellphone display as desktop. I want my own wallpaper and ability to use icons on desktop. Seriously tiles are boring and useless. Just because they look good on phone doesnt mean they look good on desktop.

On a phone, tiles are good. That's true. On a PC too, they're not that bad. I've been using the Consumer Preview for a week now, and have gotten used to the tiles. But what is annoying is that some of the apps are unnecessary. For example, I'm trying to open a PDF file through the desktop, and suddenly, the metro interface opens up and the Reader app comes up, with hardly any features at all! The same can be said about the Music an Video apps. Of course the default apps can be changed, but the default apps themselves are annoying!

 

Some of the developers are doing the designs for the sake of it and literally making crap rounds of designs. Look at elementary OS and their new crappy design. As per their new interface, there will be no desktop icons and no minimize button. I can only imagine where they'll go with too much over simplification and frugal thinking.

 

I don't understand where this crappy design techniques are leading us these days. I don't like HUD on ubuntu, Tiles on windows and can't afford mac for everyday use. I just don't know why we don't have a choice after paying enough money on these devices and OSs. It looks like i am on my way to use XFCE or similar type of display managers.

 

Ubuntu's redesigning is the greatest fail of all. Just when it was beginning to seem like Ubuntu would stand a chance in the real world market, the Unity interface came in and then the HUD. These might seem a little convenient in the beginning, but for regular users they are really irritating and the interface doesn't look too good at all. The one good thing about Linux is that it offers a choice to everyone to pick whatever style they want, but for a novice it is going to be hard to install a new display manager from scratch!

 

Coming back to Windows Consumer Preview, after a few days of use the metro interface seems smooth enough, but there's going to be a lot of people unhappy about the missing start button! I'll say it again - this is too early for the mobile interface to be forced onto the PCs. PCs aren't going anywhere -there's a world outside the US!

[yordan 10]

I loved XP because you could put it in a reasonnably small disk, you could install it inside a 4 gig disk partition. Windows 8 asks you to have at least 20 gigs free on your hard disk, it will not fit inside my test machines!Concerning the price, simply remember that some tens years ago, a PC could not be bought by normal people, PC stood for "Personal PC" for professional use only, no home users could pay such an amount of money. I guess that this is currently occuring for the tablets. I really love these tablets you can put near their keyboard and the thing looks like a PC, and when you go to your meeting you simply take tha tablet away. Next step is folding the thing four times and put it in your pocket.Concerning the look and feel I don't worry, exactly like Apple dit for the Mac, somebody will someday design a nice interface and everybody will love it, let's just wait and see.

[mahesh2k 0]

Hud is still better than windows tiles,atleast it is not hurting my desktop experience. I find tiles hard to use for my usage for desktop experience. Another thing is tablets are not for desktop experience. 7 or 10 inch tablets are useless for video and games. I found ipad tablet useless for programming and games. This difference and the small screen of tablet makes windows 8 only for that. How good windows is for doing programming? Quick gameplay? Shortkey based tray tasks? Thinking in that direction is going to answer some of those question related to windows 8. Another point how rational is having same interface for all devices are? The way desktop and laptop are purged without cheap display maket for big screen,makes me think tablets are overhyped and people are fool to pay high amount for them.

[manuleka 0]

Realizing that Mobile market is booming and touch-screen interface is the way of the future, i can see why Microsoft is pushing forward it's tile touch screen layout/themealthough traditional users (keyboard and mouse, start-button, single/two task bar menu) will argue otherwise, i think these newly implemented or appended themes/layout from different OS makers are awesome!This shows the effect of mobile devices on the Software Industry

[Quatrux 4]

A lot of people still use command line/shell/console interface, it never died and I think if people will mostly use NUI (Natural user interface) there will be a lot of people using GUI and CLI, just for most people who only want to use simple tasks, NUI seems to be very convenient way, listen to music, look at photos and etc.Programming with NUI isn't so easy, even though I saw some programming languages for NUI of the future, where you do a lot of things in bubbles with your fingers and don't need to use your keyboard so much, but there's always a lower level of programming, there are a lot of people working with assembly and etc.In university I wrote about interfaces and I can say that GUI is really hard and not natural interface, it's really hard to learn and hard to understand and hard to use, you need to learn it, when NUI is a more natural interface for you as you use your natural gestures, which you used in your live.Old people and children needs quite a time to learn GUI and it's usually hard for them, even though a lot of children these days knows how to use a computer being 3-6 years old, but doesn't know how to tie his shoe, or doesn't understand an ordinary clock

[manuleka 0]

Windows 8 looks neat - my first impression on testing it out on VMWare - but laggy due to hardware limitationswill have to look into dual-booting it with my good old XP and maybe it will perform better